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Tuesday, July 22, 2008

A Thought for Today

'Power will go to the hands of rascals, rogues and freebooters. All Indian leaders will be of low calibre and men of straw. They will have sweet tongues and silly hearts. They will fight among themselves for power and India will be lost in political squabbles.'

- Sir Winston Churchill (1874 - 1965). He was the prime minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945, and again from 1951 to 1955.

Sidhu, look at Japan, every second prime minister resigns over some financial bungling but the common public does not face the same level of corruption. Italy is another example of inapt political system but a little far away for a common person. If we could move, even inch towards that kind of a system! What do you say?Mridula | Homepage | 07.22.08 – 6:55 pm | #

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I was merely marvelling at Churchill’s astute understanding of the psyche of the people of the Indian sub-continent, in general, and the political class, in particular.

His words ring true even at present, after more than 60 years.

I suppose you are already aware of all that happened in the Lok Sabha (lower house of parliament) today.

When a prime minister resigns in Japan, taking moral resposibility, as the head of the government, for any irregularity by any member of his administration, it is a lot more honourable than anything that I have known to happen in Indian public life, at least for the past 30 years or so. Also, I am not aware of any politicians in Japan having criminal records.Sidhusaaheb | Homepage | 07.22.08 – 7:37 pm | #

With George W., the non-existent ‘Weapons of Mass Destruction’ that he deployed to mislead US Congress into assent for the war in Iraq, his personal links with the Bin Laden family (as you might’ve seen in the film Fahrenheit 9-11) and the ‘war for oil’ that he is the commander-in-chief for, politicians in North America aren’t exactly the men of honour they once used to be, either, unfortunately.

Politics there has certainly not sunk to the abysmal depths that it has in India, however, I agree, and does not appear likely to do so any time in the near future.Sidhusaaheb | Homepage | 07.23.08 – 6:32 am | #

Churchill’s services for his country in the domains of politics and literature are commendable but I guess it has not done much benefit to us. Yes, he was twice the PM of the UK and had even won a noble prize but for me, he was was just another pawn of the British Empire and had thus played a significant role in ruling and looting us and in using our resources in the best possible manner for the benefit of British Empire.He, other British government servants, our own political leaders all are responsible for being too hasty in completing partition. Thus they all share the blame for thousands killed during the partition process, they all are responsible for the Kashmir problem, and dare I say they are even responsible (at least indirectly) for the 3 and a half wars we have fought and the dollars both countries have spent on defense.To cut a long story short, I wonder after reading the quote, if Churchill was really that concerned about the well being of United India’s masses, or if what he was really trying to prove was that ‘Gora Sahibs’ would be a better occupant/ruler than the ‘Brown Sahibs’ and the ‘Kala Sahibs’ when it comes to sucking blood of the impoverished..?!?..I might not be cent percent accurate but I feel the current state of politics, civil bureaucracy, education etc in India, Bangladesh and Pakistan has a lot to do with the fact that it is all based on the laws, policies and the overall system created and implemented by the British rulers.The systems are still the same and hence the common man is still suffering. And the common man will continue to suffer unless and until he changes the system.Irfan Shah | Homepage | 07.23.08 – 2:24 pm | #

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Churchill was definitely not being charitable when he made that speech. In fact, he meant to oppose the grant of independence.

The fact to be ashamed of is, as you’ve mentioned in your comment, that we and our political leaders have proved, over the past 60 years, his words to have been nothing but the truth.

Sidhusaaheb | Homepage | 07.23.08 – 2:36 pm | #

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Agree with Fariha here ;PAsma | Homepage | 07.23.08 – 7:56 pm | #

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@Sidhusaaheb

Yeah, I agree with you. Despite having the wrong intentions, what uncle Churchill said does stand true.It reminds me of what Henry Kissinger presumably said to Z.A. Bhutto: “We will destabilize your government and make a horrible example of you”.And btw, I do not enjoy putting all the blame on ‘the foreign hand’ .Irfan Shah | Homepage | 07.23.08 – 9:54 pm | #

Hi, was blog hopping and landed here. . .Too bad he judged us 60 years back and we lived up to his judgement. .But then again we aren’t ready to change the judgement either, are we? There is this really old saying in tamil – “Most people dont care if Ram rules or Ravan” , and we live up to that toovishnupriya janardhanan | Homepage | 07.26.08 – 7:11 am | #